Chapter 6
AN: Thank you so much for the support. I hope you like this chapter. I am really loving this story, and I am quiet far ahead, so I hope you like what's to come, I know I do.
May 31st 2020
A little over two weeks have passed since Olivia talked to Amanda about her feelings towards Alex, and Alex told Olivia stories about the life she has shared with Antonio and in that time, Alex has been healing, getting a little better every day.
It's Sunday afternoon and because Alex has both gotten the all clear, and feels well enough, she is going back to Vita Nova the following morning. As she wants to be all caught up Alex is going through the notes Barba and Liz have made while she is sick.
While cross-checking something Alex's phone rings with a video call. Seeing who is on the caller ID Alex can't help but smile as she presses answers.
"Hey," Alex greats.
"Hey, Happy Birthday," Olivia says, smiling at her friend.
"Thanks," Alex says, and she can't help but smile. "I wasn't sure you remembered," Alex admits.
"Of course, I remembered, it's too bad we can't do our old tradition," Olivia says.
"Yeah, it is," Alex confirms. "Raincheck?" Alex asks.
"I'm gonna hold you to that," Olivia responds.
"Good, I have no intention of forgetting," Alex says. "How's your weekend been?" Alex asks curious.
"Good, I've been with Noah, no call out, it's my favorite kind of weekend," Olivia admits, looking towards Noah's room where he is currently drawing.
"Sounds like it," Alex says.
"What about you Counsellor? What have you been up to?" Olivia asks curious.
"Catching up on work, so I'm all ready for tomorrow," Alex explains.
"You're going back to work?" Olivia asks, surprised. "Are you sure it's not too soon?" Olivia asks, as while she knows Alex has gotten a lot better, she is also worried about Alex trying to do too much too soon.
"I'm sure," Alex tells her. "I've tested negative, and my doctor has given me the all clear, I'm good, Liv," Alex says, not wanting to explain why she can't handle being locked in an apartment much longer.
"Okay, but please remember you're still healing, don't push yourself too hard," Olivia tells Alex, clearly feeling worried for her.
"Olivia…" Alex starts to say.
"Ally please," Olivia tells her. "If it feels like too much go home and push yourself too hard. Have reasonable expectations, it's going to take some time before you're one hundred percent back," Olivia tells her.
"It's nice that you worry Liv, but I'm okay, I know my limits," Alex tells her.
"And you have a habit of pushing them," Olivia says.
"So, do you," Alex responds.
"Which is exactly why I'm telling you that you shouldn't, I've been there," Olivia explains.
"I will take things slow, I promise," Alex tells her.
"Good," Olivia says relieved, and as she does Alex gets a notification about something.
"What?" Alex asks, feeling confused as she reads it.
"Everything okay?" Olivia asks concerned.
"I'm not sure, I need to talk to Rafi," Alex says, which tells Olivia that it is something to do with work.
"Then I'll let you go," Olivia says, as she assumes it's important. "Let me know how tomorrow goes," Olivia requests as she knows she will be worrying about how Alex is doing.
"I will, Bye Liv," Alex responds.
"Bye Alex," Liv says, before they hang up with each other. Once Alex and Olivia hang up with each other Alex makes a video call to Rafael.
"Well Hello, Birthday Girl, you're looking better," Rafael tells her, feeling glad that Alex seems to be doing better as after everything they've been through, he couldn't imagine losing Alex again; as unlike Olivia he spent eighteen months believing she was dead, only finding out the truth when Alex came back to testify. Because he didn't know the truth, he couldn't even bring himself to go to her funeral, he mourned in his own, far from healthy, way.
"Can't say the same for you, that beard is really ugly Rafi," Alex informs him.
"It's necessary," Barbra responds, causing Alex to roll her eyes.
"Whatever you say," Alex responds.
"Did you need something Lex? Or did you just call to give me a hard time about my personal grooming?" Barba asks curious.
"I need something, but I'll never pass up the opportunity to give you a hard time," Alex says, and this time it's Barba's turn to rolls his eyes.
"What do you need, Lex?" Barba asks, knowing that his and Alex's banter and giving each other a hard time can last a while if they let it.
"I just got a notification about the Liza Hernandez's custody hearing," Alex tells Barba.
"Yeah, it's tomorrow. Don't worry I've got it handled," Barba assures Alex.
"I know you would, but I'm more surprised that it's actually happening," Alex admits. "I've been working with Liza for months, last I knew she wasn't ready to leave, or to take Legal Action," Alex says.
"Her husband hurt her again, Liz found out, so she went to talk to talk to her," Barba explains. "It turns out that this time her son saw, and when Liz was talking to her, he revealed what he saw," Barba explains. "That was the reality check she needed," Barba explains.
"Are you sure she's okay? That she is ready for tomorrow?" Alex asks concerned. "We've come close before," Alex notes, and she is worried that if Liza comes close again but then doesn't go through with it that she won't survive, her husband will make sure of that.
"Liz has been working with her, supporting her, talking her through everything, and I've been over everything with her. She's good Lex, she's solid this time, she wants to protect her son and be able to start a new life for both of them," Barba explains.
"Good, that's good," Alex says, sounding relieved. "She deserves to be free of them, they both do," Alex says.
"Yeah, they do," Barba confirms. "I assume you want updates about everything," Barba says, extremely happy to do so because it's another sign that Alex is doing better.
"If you've got time," Alex responds.
"What else do I have to do?" Rafael asks. "And now that you're doing better, I want to hear all about what's going on with you and Liv," Rafael comments.
"Of course, you do," Alex responds, and Barba explains everything Alex missed while she was sick, including the work he and Liz did with Ken Randell who often refers clients to Alex as the two of them not just know each other through Fin and their similar lines of work, but because they are apart of some of the same, extremely specific, community outreach programs.
"Okay, now you're all caught up," Barba tells Alex about half an hour later. "You and Liv, I want details," Barba informs Alex.
"You are such a gossip," Alex says amused.
"And you're avoiding the question," Barba tells her. "Which is interesting," Barba says, in a tone of voice Alex finds very annoying when directed at her, and Alex rolls her eyes. "I saw that. When did you and Liv even start to talk again?" Barba says as thought Olivia and Alex hadn't talked since one of Alex's clients was an SVU case.
"Olivia called me when the stay-at-home order was announced, she wanted to see how I was doing," Alex explains.
"You mean she wanted to make sure you were being careful," Barba realizes.
"Yeah, that too," Alex admits. "We've talked every few days until I got sick, even went for coffee, and since I've got sick, we've talked multiple times a day," Alex explains.
"How you feel about that?" Barba asks curious.
"Good, it's been really nice," Alex admits, smiling.
"That's nice," Barba says. "So, are you going to tell her you've been in love with her for twenty years?" Barba asks curious.
"I don't know," Alex admits.
"Oh come on, Lex! It's been twenty years, how much longer are you going to wait?" Barba asks curious.
"Rafi Olivia means… everything to me," Alex admits. "We've been through so much. There were times where I swear, I thought she hated me, and others where she made me feel like her world," Alex admits, doing so because it is Barba she is talking to. "Things are finally good between us again, we can talk the way we used to, it's feels like we're finally us again; I don't know if I'm prepared to risk losing that," Alex admits, knowing that she is afraid.
"If you don't risk losing it, do you really have anything at all?" Barba asks, giving Alex something to think about.
The next morning Alex gets up, has breakfast, has a shower, and for the first time in almost a month she gets ready and heads into Vita Nova. As it is early than she would usually arrive at the office Alex is a little surprised when she finds Liz already sitting at her desk.
"Alex," Liz says, looking thrilled to see her. "I'm really glad you're back," Liz says, meaning that completely. "How are you feeling?" Liz asks curious.
"Much better," Alex tells her, as she removes her mask.
"I'm really glad to hear that," Liz says, looking relieved.
"Liz, I'm want you to know that I am incredibly grateful for you, for everything you did when I was sick," Alex tells her.
"I just did what I had to do," Liz says, struggling like it is no big deal.
"Liz, don't do that, don't diminish what you've done," Alex tells her. "You stepped up. You kept this place running. You help people, and from what I understand have gone above and beyond," Alex says. "I'm really proud of you," Alex says.
"Thanks Alex," Liz says, feeling touched. "You know, when we started building this place, I wasn't completely sure what to expect, I just know it was something I wanted to be a part of," Liz admits. "But now I'm proud of what we've built Alex, and when you got sick, I knew that I just had to do things the way you would," Liz explains as while Alex was sick, she kept asking herself "what would Alex do,"
"You did so much more than that," Alex admits. "Liz, I consider us to be partners and I'm proud of that, proud of what we have built, and I'm proud to be your mentor, and your friend," Alex assures her.
"Thank you, Alex," Liz tells her. "I feel the same way," Liz admits, an understanding look passes between them, and once it does, after a few moments, Alex head into her office. Once Alex is in her office, she puts her bag down but takes a selfie as she wants to show Olivia that she got into work alright.
While Alex is getting restituted at work Olivia is arriving at the precinct. As she steps out of the elevator her phones goes off and as she sees the photo message of Alex she can't help but smile and she quickly texts back, 'Looking good, Counsellor. Remember what I said about taking it easy,'. A few seconds 'I will, but you still worry too much,' Alex responds. Reading the message Olivia smiles as she walks into the squad room where Fin and Rollins are, but Kat hasn't arrived yet.
"That's a sight for sore eyes," Fin says, noticing the look on Olivia's face. "Haven't seen that in a while," Fin comments. "You good Cap?"
"Yeah, I am," Olivia confirms.
"I'm assuming Alex is out of the woods?" Amanda asks, as that's what she assumes, and Fin is a little surprised that Amanda knows what's been bothering Olivia.
"Yep, she's officially started back at work," Olivia explains.
"Isn't it a bit too soon?" Fin asks concerned.
"Don't even get me started," Olivia admits. "But what matters is that Alex is doing a lot better, and she thinks she is well enough to work again," Olivia explains.
"You're right, that's good news," Fin admits.
"Real good," Amanda confirms, knowing that this is the kind of good news that Olivia really deserves.
"Yeah, it is," Olivia says before heading into her office.
A few hours after she arrived at work Alex is starting to feel more tired. While she remembers her promise to Olivia Alex wants to keep going for just a little longer. As she tries to focus on a matter Alex's phone rings, and she is glad when she sees Antonio's name on the caller ID.
"Hey Tonio," Alex answers.
"How are you feeling?" Antonio asks concerned.
"I'm okay. I'm doing much better," Alex assures him. "How are you?" Alex asks.
"I'm okay; going a bit stir crazy," Antonio admits. "I found out my virtual graduation has finally been scheduled for Wednesday," Antonio explains.
"I'm sorry Sweetheart, I know it's not what you want," Alex admits.
"This whole thing is not what anyone wants," Antonio comments. "I've worked so hard, this kind of feels anticlimactic," Antonio admits.
"You deserve to celebrate, Tonio. You've worked hard over the last four years, overcome so much, achieved so much, you should be proud of yourself. I know I'm beyond proud of you," Alex tells her son.
"Thanks Mami," Antonio says. "I got an email earlier, at this stage my first semester of Law School is going to be online," Antonio explains.
"I'm sorry, hopefully it's just your first semester," Alex says, as she cannot imagine how much harder being online is going to make Law School.
"That's what I hope. I really don't like this," Antonio admits, and Alex knows the reasons for that.
"I know," Alex responds.
"I should go Mami. I have a zoom call about this fall in a few minutes," Antonio explains.
"Okay, I love you," Alex tells her son.
"Love you too," Antonio responds, before hanging up.
A little while after she spoke to Antonio Alex is still in her office finding it even more difficult to focus on the work she is doing. As she attempts to focus Alex hears footsteps and so she looks up and sees Liz.
"Hey, I was just going to get some take away for lunch, do you want something?" Liz asks curious.
"No, I'm okay," Alex says, and Liz is immediately concerned.
"Alex what's wrong?" Liz asks concerned. "And don't say nothing, I've known you well enough to know that something's wrong," Liz admits, taking several steps towards Alex.
"I'm feeling a bit exhausted," Alex admits. "Finding it hard to focus," Alex admits.
"You're trying to do too much too soon, you should go home," Liz says, feeling concerned as she is worried about what kind of long term effects Alex is going to have.
"I'm okay, I want to try to get this done," Alex explains, as she tries to get her eyes to focus.
"Yeah, no, that's not happening," Liz says. "Alex I'm going to give you two choices, either you let me help you home or I'm gonna call Olivia and she'll make you go home," Liz says as while she hasn't talked to Olivia since she was a teenager, she wouldn't hesitate to make the call.
"You wouldn't," Alex says, even though she isn't too sure about that.
"Come on, Alex, you know I would," Liz says, and what is a rare occurrence Alex sees Liz's father in her.
"Fine," Alex says, with a sigh, and she saves and closers what she was doing. Once she has closed everything Alex stands up and as she does, she stumbles a little, so Liz hurries over to her.
"You don't have to do everything alone," Liz tells her mentor. "Let me help," Liz requests, and Alex just nods, and they start to head out of Alex's office. As they walk Alex does her best to walk on her own, but she does have to lean on Liz slightly.
"Liz, I haven't told Olivia that we work together, I wasn't sure if that was something you'd be okay with," Alex admits as she meant to talk about it with Liz but then she got sick.
"I'm good with Olivia knowing," Liz admits, she half expected Olivia to already know. "Alex my Dad doesn't know we work together," Liz reveals. "I'm an adult, and he's in Italy, I don't want to deal with his judgement," Liz explains as she has been vague when talking to her dad about what she is doing, and her siblings haven't told him either.
"That's your choice," Alex tells her, honestly not surprised, as she suspected she would have received a call from Elliot if he knew that she and Liz were working together.
"Olivia's different. I know you two are close, and honestly I miss her, so I'm perfectly happy with her knowing we work together," Liz admits, Alex nods, and the two of them continue to walk out of the office.
A while after Liz insisted, she went home, and helped her to do so, Alex is resting on the couch in her apartment. As she isn't deeply asleep Alex is woken by her phone ringing.
"Cabot," Alex answers, doing so without checking her caller ID.
"Hey, I wanted to see how your first day went," Olivia says, as Alex sits up.
"I didn't last beyond lunch," Alex admits.
"Why? What happened?" Olivia asks concerned.
"I got sent home," Alex explains.
"Sent home? Aren't you the boss?" Olivia asks, feeling both amused and concerned. "Or was it Barba who sent you home?" Olivia asks as she can see that happening.
"No, it wasn't Rafi," Alex admits, knowing he probably would have if he was around. "Liv, there's something I haven't told you, I didn't build Vita Nova alone," Alex reveals.
"Okay?" Olivia says, sounding confused as she isn't sure why Alex seems hesitant to tell her. "Who helped you?" Olivia asks curious.
"Liz Stabler," Alex answers, to Olivia's complete shock.
"What?" Olivia asks, feeling sure that she heard Alex wrong.
"A couple of weeks after I walked away from you on that street, I was setting up Vita Nova's offices and Liz showed up," Alex explains. "I didn't recognize her at first, but then she told me who she was," Alex explains. "She explained how she had graduated Columbia early and became a social worker," Alex explains.
"Good for her," Olivia says, as she attempts to digest the fact that Alex has been working with a Stabler for the past two years.
"Liz had heard from her boss that I was looking at hiring a social worker and because she remembered me, and had worked with women I helped, she came to see me, said she wanted a job," Alex explains. "Liz told me that during her time being a social worker she had seen how broken the system is, and that she wanted to do more," Alex explains. "That's why she had applied to Columbia Law, which she started that fall," Alex explains. "Liz told me that she wanted to be a part of what I was doing, and after making it clear that there is one part of what I do that she wouldn't be apart off, and still isn't, I welcomed her aboard," Alex explains, feeling the need to make it clear to Olivia that she hasn't let Liz be apart of the less legal parts of what she does. "Vita Nova wouldn't be what it is if it weren't for Liz. She's incredibly at helping victims, she's stepped up whenever I needed to her to and for the last month has gone above and beyond," Alex explains, and as she does Olivia realizes something.
"You're proud of her," Olivia realizes.
"I really am," Alex confirms, and they drift into a tense silence as there is something that Olivia wants to know, but she isn't sure she can bring herself to ask. "Olivia?" Alex asks, after a few moments, telling Olivia, in her way, that it's okay to ask.
"Have you seen Elliot?" Olivia asks.
"No," Alex answers. "I've spent time with Liz, Richard, Kathleen even Maureen a couple of times, but that's all," Alex explains. "Liz hasn't told Elliot that we're working together, but Liz recently told me where he is if you'd like to know," Alex explains, wanting to give Olivia that choice as she knows what Elliot means to Olivia, and how much he hurt her by leaving.
"No," Olivia says.
"Liv…" Alex starts to say.
"He left Alex! He walked away almost ten years ago, and he didn't even have the decency to tell me, he had Cragen do it, so I don't care where he is," Olivia explains, clearly angry.
"Okay," Alex says, understanding Olivia's anger.
"So, Elizabeth ordered you to go home?" Olivia asks, wanting to get the subject of Elliot.
"Yep, she told me either she could either help me home or she was going to call you and you'd make me," Alex explains, causing Olivia to laugh.
"I would have," Olivia comments.
"I know," Alex responds. "Liz told me today that she misses you, and that I can give you her number if you'd like," Alex says, as she knows that Liz feels guilty that she never reached out to Olivia, and Liz told her that she knows Kathleen at least feels the same.
"I'd like that," Olivia admits, honestly not sure if she is ready to make the call, but she would like the option.
"I'll text it to you," Alex responds. "If it helps you now know basically every major thing about my life," Alex says, wanting to make sure she and Olivia are okay.
"Except what happened when you were in WITSEC and when you first came back," Olivia responds, before she can stop herself.
"I don't want to talk about that over the phone," Alex admits.
"Okay," Olivia says, deciding not to push anymore about that particular subject. "How worried about you should I be?" Olivia asks, there being two layers to her question, and she isn't sure that Alex is going to address them both.
"I think I'm okay, just not healing quiet as well as I thought," Alex admits, doing what Olivia suspected and only addressing one layer of her question. "I think I will stick to only half days in the office for a little while," Alex explains.
"That sounds like a really good idea to me," Olivia admits, though she knows that Alex admitting that is concerning.
"I thought you'd think so," Alex admits.
"I also think it might be good to avoid house calls and the parts of your job you do alone," Olivia says, trying to be delicate about this.
"You know I can't do that; I need to do what's best for the people I'm trying to help," Alex tells Olivia.
"I know, but I'm asking you to at least try to do what's best for you," Olivia tells Alex.
"I'll see what I can do," Alex responds, and Olivia knows that's the best she is going to get, but that doesn't mean she has to like it.
"Alex, I've got to go, Noah's calling," Olivia explains.
"Of course, I understand, Bye Liv," Alex responds.
"Bye Alex," Olivia says before hanging up and going to see what her son needs.
